Romney Snares National Review Endorsement

Our guiding principle has always been to select the most conservative viable candidate. In our judgment, that candidate is Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts. Unlike some other candidates in the race, Romney is a full-spectrum conservative: a supporter of free-market economics and limited government, moral causes such as the right to life and the preservation of marriage, and a foreign policy based on the national interest. While he has not talked much about the importance of resisting ethnic balkanization — none of the major candidates has — he supports enforcing the immigration laws and opposes amnesty. Those are important steps in the right direction.

At bottom, this is a something of a desperation choice, I think. None of the other conservative candidates are viable and, as the editors point out, neither Giuliani or Huckabee enjoys the kind of across the board support among conservatives that Romney does, despite his record as a centerist governor of Massachusetts.

Politically, this can only help Romney's candidacy. Most conservatives recognize this endorsement is not just from NR but also from that greying eminence himself; Bill Buckley. And no one has ever dared accuse Mr. Buckley of expediency.

Our guiding principle has always been to select the most conservative viable candidate. In our judgment, that candidate is Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts. Unlike some other candidates in the race, Romney is a full-spectrum conservative: a supporter of free-market economics and limited government, moral causes such as the right to life and the preservation of marriage, and a foreign policy based on the national interest. While he has not talked much about the importance of resisting ethnic balkanization — none of the major candidates has — he supports enforcing the immigration laws and opposes amnesty. Those are important steps in the right direction.

At bottom, this is a something of a desperation choice, I think. None of the other conservative candidates are viable and, as the editors point out, neither Giuliani or Huckabee enjoys the kind of across the board support among conservatives that Romney does, despite his record as a centerist governor of Massachusetts.

Politically, this can only help Romney's candidacy. Most conservatives recognize this endorsement is not just from NR but also from that greying eminence himself; Bill Buckley. And no one has ever dared accuse Mr. Buckley of expediency.